Not a Grim Post

I just got back from the Y. I am planning to exercise five days a week, first thing in the morning. This will give my life some structure -- force me up, dressed and out the door.

My posts have been sounding grim, since I decided to blog unemployment. It's an important topic right now, and I am doing primary research.

I haven't talked about what's going right -- the exercise and writing, among other things. The longer I'm away from my old job, the more I realize how stressful it was. It sucked energy, and now I have a lot of that energy back. I'm using some of it to look for work, but I have plenty left for writing.

Mostly I have been finishing old stories, making final revisions and getting them out the door. Two have found homes. They are going to be published as chapbooks by small presses.

My agent has two stories, as yet unsold. I have four more almost done. If editors cooperate, there will be a bunch of Arnason stories in print in the coming year.

So I can't complain too much about being unemployed. It has made it possible for me to work on my life.